Morning journal and courier., 1887-04-05
PARTON FISHING IN FLORIDA.

royal face an expression of cneerfulness ana suitability.
 PARTON FISHING IN FLORIDA.
 Commodore Asten Has Great Luck
 With the GiamIest of Fishes.
 MT. Thomas B. Asten: who with Colonel Quay is yachting and fishing in Florida wa ters, was interviewed the other day by the Indian River News about his experience with tarpon, the big fish of the land of flowers
 "After building my yacht," said MT. As ten, "with the purpose in view of visiting the west coast of Florida to indulge in some lively sport in fishing, which we were in- formed could only be found in that section, we changed our minds and induced our friend Lieutenant Hem to join us in trip to the east coast and try some of the lesser kinds of fish, such as bass, trout sheeps- head, snappers, Sc. Imagine our surprise and incredulity when told by the residents that the famous tarpon was to be found in our near vicinity, so we decided to investi- gate. The first evening we went to the west side of the river with our lines. hooks, smells and other paraphernalia to see what was to be seen. Our first view of the beauties was immediately after moonrise, when they were to be seen leaping and flying through the air, gambolling and playing, their bright, silvery scales glistening in the moonlight, afording scene that beggars description. We dertook the task of hooking few of them, and after struggling for some time ineffecru- ally we finally succeeded in bringing one of them up to the side of the boat apparently exhausted; then the fun began in earnest. The fish seemed to realize his critical situa- ton, and as we failed to bring a lance or a spear with which to pierce him, we were at sea as it were, with an elephant on our hands and no means to capture him.
 1.-The next evening we were more fortu- nate. We supplied ourselves with the lar gest and most powerful shark hooks, made smells eighteen inches to two feet in length of quadruple twisted wire to prevent the monsters jaws from getting away with our hooks and tackle. With heavy lances with which to pierce the fish should we catch one, | we once more resorted to the scene of action. We had learned two lessons-that the tackle | used to catch the west coast tarpon was ab- 1 solutely insufficient and had to be substitu- ted by the most powerful shark tackle, and | that the proper time to angle was by moon- light, when they come in the inlets and cuts 1 to feed on the smaller fish that abound in 1 these places at those times. The scene that presented itself our arrival was one of most exciting interest. Here, there and on all sides of us were to be seen leaping and l flashing in the moonlight the glistening forms of the graceful and fearless creatures.
 As we would cast out our lines baited with
 mullet they would be seized almost immedi- ately, and ere we could tighten our grasp the l fish would dart to this side or that One | moment the line would be entirely limp and | apparently empty, when swish, over to the l right of you would leap a monster eight to
 ten feet in the air, shaking his wonderfully l formed head and nine times out of ten the
 hook would go spinning several feet away. | A strange feature of the fshs pranks was his
 attempt to grab the hook after throwing it | from his mouth, sometimes catching it be- fore it struck the water.
 | "Thus the sport continued, ever watchful lest the line became entangled in the least with any part of the body, for in that case, were the fish to take course from the boat, | the unfortunate would run a great risk of | being drawn overheard or being badly lace rated. The wonderful power possessed by these denizens of the sea may be judged from the fact that in the capture of hun
 dred pounder the boat containing myself and
 assistant was drawn back and forth over a | distance of two miles or more. This means | being employed to wear out the strength
 of the fish, it is at last drawn up to dis
 tance that will allow an assistant to spear
 him, and even then it requires considera
 ble skill to land him in the boat while un-
 dergoiug his last efforts and struggles
 Lucky is he who succeeds in getting one
 of these varieties, for of all gamy fish this
 is considered by seamen the most difficult | to capture.
 Colonel Quay caught tarpon on the oc | casion we mention which weighed one hun